And some days
by RedKetchup
Summary: Some days it's hard. Other times it's just right. Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fic.


And then some days it's hard.

Some nights Rapunzel will wake with a cold, painful thing twisting in her chest as a nightmare recedes to the back of her mind. She'll lay still in her bed, covers wrapped tightly around her and heart beating so loud that she wonders if anyone else can hear it.

Some nights Rapunzel dreams of hair being severed away and the sticky feeling of blood pooling under her fingers. She dreams of helplessness and of an emptiness that leaves her trembling.

_Other times, though she will never share, Rapunzel dreams of running into the arms of a departed woman._

_Flawless hands rub her back, and a long-gone voice will hush into her hair, " Didn't I tell you? Mother always knows best."_

However, those nights are secret_._

* * *

Merida has a scar on her shoulder. It's not very deep or even large, yet at times when it storms and rains her scar itches.

She scratches at it absently one time, but then she catches her mom's gaze and she sees that it's staring guiltily at her shoulder. She suddenly realizes and her mouth opens up into a silent "_Oh_." She quickly folds her hands neatly into her lap like a princess should and pretends that she didn't feel the prickling beneath her sleeve.

Merida figures it's a small price to pay.

Occasionally, Merida notices that there are scars everywhere if you really look, too. At moments Merida will grip her bow and feel the faded impression of burns. She'll be in her mother's room and she'll see the stitched groove on a beautiful tapestry.

Sometimes Rapunzel pulls at her short hair, (which is something Merida will never grow used to seeing), and holds on too tightly with her hugs, almost as though she fears letting go.

Other times it's Hiccup rubbing at the part of his leg where flesh meets metal. Or perhaps he'll be hoarded away in some isolated place, leaning against his fierce dragon and sketching and inventing and thinking, but he hides away like it's a habit of his to keep his thoughts hidden.

One time Punzie glances over his shoulder and looks at his notebook, startling him. He clutches it to his chest quickly and stammers out some kind of thing that sounded like an _apology_ before he realizes who he is speaking to.

Some days, they forget that people care because scars can run deep in the heart.

* * *

There are soft memories that haze at the edge of Hiccup's mind. He sketches them sometimes, and one time Punzie got a hold of his sketchbook and added some paint to them. Another time Merida got a splotch of some kind of jam on the corner.

He tried snapping at her for it, but the smirk that graced her lips and the hand that Punzie had over her own to cover her secret smile eased his anger away. He sighed instead, shaking his head in amused exasperation.

"You're too much trouble," he told her, a small smile pulling at his face.

Merida snorted loudly. "Anybody could say the same 'bout ye, ya know."

It was true, and Hiccup couldn't say anything to deny it. It felt good though, knowing that there were people who wanted him just as he was.

"Hey, Hiccup," Rapunzel interrupted curiously, looking at his sketches. She traced her index finger over his picture.

It was a crudely drawn action shot. The three of them were in a riverbed, and Hiccup was helping up a slipping Rapunzel while Merida had her head thrown back in a laugh. She was sitting in the water and pointing upwards, and at an angle it seemed as though she was laughing at the other two.

Something bothered Hiccup about that, though. The drawing was made from his hazy memory, and so when he drew it he had purposely placed a space beside Merida as though to make room for another person.

He never put the person in, but if he had it would have made Merida seem like she was laughing at the unknown individual rather than Hiccup and Rapunzel's falling.

"Yeah, Punzie?" he asks quietly, figuring that she had noticed the empty spot.

Her finger lingered there and her face almost seemed distant, sad almost.

"This is a good picture," she said after a moment, still staring at the sketch in uncertainty.

Hiccup felt something tug painfully in his gut, but he didn't know why.

"Thanks."

* * *

It's the first snowfall of the year and Eugene is the first to open fire. The snow hits her squarely in the back of the head and her squeal has him chuckling long and hard. He shuts up when he sees her devilish expression when she turns around, already armed with a snowball of her own.

This all occurs in the town square, and soon red-faced children flock to play games or partake in the Princess' and Prince's war. A bakery owned by an older couple offers free biscuits fresh from the oven, and Eugene and her temporarily truce to help pass them out to the children and make a lumpy snowman.

They go home hours later, fingers freezing and noses running, for Rapunzel to eagerly tell of her day over dinner with the king and queen. Her father's response is a silent but sweet smile that she'll never tire of seeing, and her mother's laugh is light and warm. The guards stay quiet and hidden in the corners of the dining hall, but their amusement fills the large space anyway.

_Most of her nights are filled with happy memories anymore, and it's something pleasant and wonderful. She is never waiting for her life to start anymore._

That night she lies sprawled out on a plush carpet in front of a fireplace. Eugene is her cushion, and her head lies on his shoulder while he dozes. Her parents had bid them a good night several minutes later, and now it is just a quiet moment between Rapunzel and Eugene.

She keeps her face turned towards the glass doors that lead out to the snow-covered balcony. The night is dark but Rapunzel can make out frost patterns on the balcony railings. They swirl uniquely into designs that are dizzying in a beautiful way.

Her thoughts turn towards Merida and Hiccup as she traces her eyes over the frost. Both live in lands that are distant and outlying from her kingdom. (That was always a problem they had to handle when they wanted to visit one another, and Hiccup and Rapunzel always had to meet halfway at Merida's kingdom, which is north of Rapunzel's and south of Hiccup's. Hiccup could just fly on Toothless and Rapunzel liked journeys to other places anyway.)

She wonders if they both got the same winter wonder that her home has received today. She pictures Hiccup riding the wind on the back of his black-scaled dragon, the cold whipping in his face but his mouth would still be grinning. His eyes would be bright with excitement and there would a touch of youthfulness that would bring his face alight.

She then turns her mind to a fiery princess that would surely be riding a stallion through thickets of woods. Her bow would be slung across her back and her hood would be sheltering her wild mane of hair. She sees the lands blanketed in snow and Merida will have an air of empowerment and freedom, like a goddess of the woods, as she travels with the skill of a huntress.

Rapunzel lets out a long sigh as she settles down further into the side of Eugene's body. He grunts sleepily and throws an arm over her hip.

"Ya thinkin' too loudly," he murmurs quietly.

She smiles, letting her eyes droop tiredly as she stares at the snow piling outside.

"Sorry, Eugene. Just thinking about the other three," she whispers into the room, feeling Eugene pressed beside her and the warmth of the hot coals coming from the fireplace.

"Mm...three?"

Rapunzel laughs airily. "You know who, silly. Merida, Hiccup, and-"

She pauses and stiffens, her tongue freezing in her mouth. Her heart aches, just like when she wakes from one of her terrible nightmares, and her fingers dig into the carpet she's laying on.

Eugene feels her tense up and lifts his head to look at her face. "Hey, are you alright?"

She keeps still, her mind racing as she thinks of empty spaces in Hiccup's sketches and of snowballs that seemingly appeared from nowhere only to hit her with perfect aim. She thinks of jokes that Merida makes that sometimes feels like only someone else would understand, someone who is even more mischievous than she would ever be. Someone who has a smile that would always curve into a smirk subconsciously.

Yet when she's about to form an image of this someone, it slips away, just like a passing winter breeze.

She is jolted out of her thoughts when she feels fingertips brushing beneath her eyes. She blinks in surprise and is shocked to find tears spilling down her face. Eugene is leaning over her worriedly, his fingers rubbing her tears away anxiously.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurting somewhere? Should I get your mo- I mean the queen...err...your mom? I still don't know what to call her...but that's not the point, do you need something to drink? Rapunzel, what's happening?" he rambles, eyes wide and fearful.

She looks at him with a watery gaze, slowly shaking her head back and forth.

"I'm fine, I don't know why I'm crying. I just," she breathes in shakily. "I just don't know."

He continues to stare at her anxiously, a dash of disbelief in his eyes. "Well...then let's get to bed. I'm sure we'll be stiff in the morning if we sleep on the floor."

She nods and he helps her up, moving his shoulder to try and get feeling back into his limb. She makes her way for the bed, feeling unsteady all the way. Eugene goes to turn off a lamp before he comes to join her. She stares out to the balcony, watching thick snowflakes drift down from the snow clouds above.

Eugene wraps his arms back around her as he settles into the bed. "Maybe tomorrow we should stay inside. I'm worried you may have gotten sick from our snowball fight today; perhaps that's why you were crying?"

She bites her lip, not even sure how to answer him. "Maybe, who knows?"

He sighs heavily. "This weather is pretty, though. Everyone has Jack Frost nipping at their noses."

Rapunzel's hands tighten into the sheets as the wind outside howls.

_And some days it's hard._

* * *

**I'm sorry that this isn't an usual one piece story. I've been into these movies lately, and I love the _Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons _idea.**

**Please excuse any grammar/spelling errors and please point them out!**


End file.
